Blended Learning: A Well Oiled Machine or Busy Individual Cogs?

Blended Learning- Lots of hype, lots of varieties, lots of experimentation- success imminent.

 For this blog, we will use the following definition from the Christiansen Institute: Blended learning is not the same as technology-rich instruction. It goes beyond one-to-one computers and high-tech gadgets. Blended learning involves leveraging the Internet to afford each student a more personalized learning experience, meaning increased student control over the time, place, path, and/or pace of his or her learning. The definition of blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns: (1) at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; (2) at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home; (3) and the modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.

See more at: http://www.christenseninstitute.org/key-concepts/blended-learning-2/#sthash.3184s8qH.dpuf

As I have watched various teachers and grade levels integrate some level of blended learning in the form of centers/modalities/stations in their classroom I have also watch "best practice scenarios" develop. This blog is an attempt to help educators learn from someone already mucking through the details. Station rotation models are our main form of blended learning here at Chattanooga Christian School. Here is a list of helpful hints:

1. Noise cancelling headphones. Not all students do movement and noise in a classroom well. My ADHD daughter taught me this one when she first started taking part of a class with flipped-learning homework. For students that are doing work on a device where they don't have to listen, it might help them to wear noise cancelling headphones to keep them focused. Perhaps this just means that you suggest that students wear their personal headphones/earbuds during digital instruction time- it doesn't have to be TRUE noise cancelling headphones to be effective. 

2. Spend some time focusing on transitions. Maybe it means setting a timer for students to understand how long transitions from one rotation to another should take. Maybe it means saying "by the time I start small group instruction, everyone in "digital instruction" should be already to log in. Maybe it means saying "you will always move to the modality on your left and you have 2 minutes to be actively engaged in that rotation."

3. Digital instruction goals for each rotation. This might be hard to do but a "checklist" for things to be accomplished at the digital instruction rotations is helpful for the students and is useful for the teacher. It helps teachers by "forcing" students to use time wisely. Maybe it looks like, "by the time you finish this rotation you should have worked through 2 sets of problems" or, "by the time this rotation is over, you should have your opening paragraph/graphic organizer/3 slides etc completed."

4. Expectations of accountability in digital instruction. "Yes this does count for a grade." Many digital instruction websites now show you exactly how much time a student has spent on their website. Here me say this: Accessing and analyzing the digital instruction pieces of a blended learning model is essential to a successful implementation. If your technology rotations are just so your students have something to do so you can do small group instruction you are often better off using the traditional model of whole group instruction. In other words, there is a large possibility that those 20 minutes are now wasted in furthering their learning and it's just a babysitter without clear expectations and accountability that those expectations are being met. This is on the teacher- reviewing your technology-based instruction on a regular basis is pertinent to success. Research shows that well down blended learning has positive results, in my estimation this is one of the major "breakdown pieces" between good and bad implementation.

5. Consistent rotation expectations. Students need structure and from the outside looking in, blended learning doesn't always look structured. As much as possible, create "organized chaos." While the dynamics of the rotations themselves might change, having a "theme" for each rotation helps students wrap their head around the next step. For instance, naming rotations broad names like: "Teacher Instruction", "Digital Instruction", "Inquiry", "PBL", "Peer-to-Peer", etc. This allows the students to have a general expectation before they sit down and change gears. Visibly posting those names at the rotation center helps as well. Having set expectations for each center is important. For example, at a Digital Instruction rotation, making sure the students know the rules of using technology in your classroom is important. Maybe it means that they know they are always to be positioned where you can see over their shoulders from your Teacher-led rotation? 

As I follow the reports from groups like the Christensen Institute and Getting Smart, I know that their are blended learning initiatives that are creating crazy positive results. As I see the preliminary data from our school, I am encouraged. I can't help but get excited when I see teachers constantly trying to make each portion of their blended learning classrooms better for their students. I can't help but get excited when I talk with teachers about how technology is streamlining their workflow in their classrooms. I get excited when I see teachers working solutions by asking parent volunteers to come work the room during math instruction time to keep students on task when using technology.  I can't help but get excited to see open-minded educators trying new things. Clear eyes, full hearts- can't lose.  

How I Set up Periscope for Professional Development Talks

Recently I did a Periscope session during EdCamp Global about "Classroom Management in a Technology Rich Environment." I've never been so nervous to do a PD event in my life! I was stepping outside my comfort zone to try this but could see it being beneficial to learn. Since it's a live event- trial by fire! But it worked.

I had two main things that concerned me about trying this:

• Creepers. The night before some of my PLN had used Google Hangouts to do some sessions for EdCamp Global and some really weird people showed up, it had to be a closed session in the middle of it. I worried that might happen for me- I guess because I presented at 9am most of the creepers were still sleeping!
• My default settings for any Periscope I do normally is set for ONLY USERS I FOLLOW CAN CHAT- I knew that I would have to open that to the whole world in order to let everyone take part from EdCamp Global SO I TURNED THIS OPTION OFF. Previous uses that way had provided some very inappropriate comments- fortunately this time, there were none! 
  

So here are the key things that made my session successful:

• My set up. I opened Periscope on my iPad, tested my angles and distance before I started. The stability of the tripod helped tremendously when using my hands to share visuals during the session. One thing I would think a bit more about next time is the lighting in the room (get away from the window) and raising the computer when sharing something on the screen (it was in the area that comments showed up in).
• Plan your start and stop. I didn't have anyone to hit "start broadcasting" for me so I started with the computer screen facing the iPad so everyone could see the name of the session. This is important because when it is posted to the Periscope website or the link is placed on Twitter when you go live that will be the screenshot that everyone sees (it's the hook so to speak)- so you want to make sure something that brings in watchers is in the screen to begin with. Also, I obviously had to get up at the end and stop the broadcast, once again I turned my computer screen for the sake of a better video.
• Let Twitter tell the world you are broadcasting. Click the Twitter bird before you start- that way your Twitter PLN knows when you are Periscoping because Periscope automatically posts a tweet using your account when you hit "Start Broadcast." I would also suggest here to spend some time thinking about the title for your broadcast- make it helpful enough for your viewers to know what the broadcast is about but catchy enough to hook them in to watch.
• Communicating with viewers. This is the hardest part- I wanted to be able to see what was being said but the iPad was turned away from me. As soon as I hit broadcast and sat at my computer, I opened the Periscope link of my live event using a different Twitter account on my phone (make sure you turn down your sound as well). I loved being able to interact with the viewers because I met their needs as I talked and could adjust the session on the fly as needed. It was sometimes hard to follow all the comments (I had over 100 viewers for the event but almost 40 more viewers watched it later in the 24 hour public period on Periscope) but I feel like I did a fairly good job of multitasking between the plan and the questioning. 

• Save to your camera roll. An oops moment for me! At the end of the broadcast you should
  
  plan on saving PD sessions to your camera role for future watching because they only remain available to the public for 24 hours. It's a simple click of a square but I totally didn't do it. Lesson learned for next time. I've also been told there is an option called #Katch- I'm still not sure exactly how it works but definitely worth looking into (@KatchHQ) because it saves all your streams on its website.
• Upload your saved video so others can access it. This is me telling myself here since I didn't do it during my session! But here is what I would have done! Our school gmail accounts have associated access to youtube. I often use the app " YouTube Capture" because it quickly uploads large size videos to Youtube without a lot of fuss. It even lets you edit the video if you would like. I'm a fan of the ease of this.

In April I wrote this blog post about Periscope sharing some of my concerns of seeing students use it. That hasn't really happened at our school yet, but I am sure it will. I also have concerns about the true usefulness of it in the classroom setting (privacy issues being my biggest concern) BUT I see great usage in making "events" live. So here I will share with you ways you could help with the privacy issues:

• Making a closed event broadcast. I would do two things, I would let people know what was going to happen and ask them to follow me so that I can follow them back (this could become a pain but I think it is a smart move to keep inappropriate comments out)- I would then set my broadcast where only people I follow could comment on the video. The other options is to make a "PRIVATE BROADCAST" where only people you select could view the event (a little time consuming if there is a potential for lots of viewers). 

I hope this helps you as you as you consider navigating Periscoping PD in the future!